Let's talk about Freeport

[kellyb2000]

I know this has been discussed many, many times before but this time I'm going to pay attention. I'm thinking that in Freeport, the only thing to do is the Lucayan Resort thing. But how many do this on their own? On our last cruise (2000) we went on our own but I felt very uncomfortable the whole day. I felt like we weren't supposed to be there. But we saw some friends from the ship and I was o.k. (just o.k.!) Plus I was scared we would miss the boat. But that was still when everything was under construction and I don't know how different it is now. Is it worth it to sign up for the excursion, or save my $50/person and take my own towel, my own lunch, etc. Can we still use the resort's pool and deck if we go on our own? And I noticed it said slides which I assume means more than one slide. When we were there it was just a little slide in the tower like thingy. Nothing special at all. Is it different now? I think that's all I have for now.........

 

[Mollie Jo]

Hello Kelly,
I live just about 60 miles from you. I can't help you about the resort, but when we cruised in March we stayed on board and enjoyed the ship. From the looks of the decks, most everybody else did too. We had a great day!
Mollie Jo

 

[dclwdwlover]

I was just wondering whether anybody likes getting off in Freeport? I have NEVER heard ANYBODY say anything good about it. Correct me if I'm wrong DISers.
Which leads me to my only Disney complaint - when I booked our upcoming cruise I MADE SURE it was on a 'day at sea' & - you guessed it - they extended their (useless) Freeport schedule & now we have to stop there. Not fair!!! We LOVE those days at sea - so beautiful.

 

[ripleysmom]

Freeport is an armpit.

 

[goodstarr]

Just did the Wonder last week and did Lucayan Resort excursion. i have been to Freeport once before, but this excursion was fabulous. The area that we were in looked new or refurbished. We had two pools to ourselves with the slide (this was no little dingy slide. My DH went down is and said it was "something else") We had a large beach area, plenty of lounge chairs, lunch was great and they did activities for the kids (water slide thingy, games, etc.) When I was booking my Nassay excursion, the salesperson recommended it, and I'm glad she did. We decided to stay on the ship in Nassau instead.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by Mollie Jo
Hello Kelly,
I live just about 60 miles from you. I can't help you about the resort, but when we cruised in March we stayed on board and enjoyed the ship. From the looks of the decks, most everybody else did too. We had a great day!
Mollie Jo

That's exactly what we'll be doing in December...staying onboard and enjoying the ship. Maybe spa a treatment?

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by ripleysmom
Freeport is an armpit.

I disagree with this....I think NASSAU is the one that is an armpit...Freeport was beautiful at Our Lucaya, I would take the Freeport stop over that Nassau one anyday....I would be very happy to never see Nassau again, it is a real dump.

 

[dclwdwlover]

Glad you & your family had a nice time, but nothing you mentioned in your excursion would be anything I would pay extra for over & above the expense of the cruise.
We'll have CC for the beach, the adults pool never gets that crowded anyway & at when in port it's even better, & the ship has great food. The slide I can do without paying for - we'll be able to do one in WDW, anyway. Thanks for a positive feedback, tho.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I have to agree that I am also a bit bummed about losing our day at sea to Freeport. I wish I had been aware that this could happen. Even contacted DCL asking if I could change to the following week, without having to cancel and re-book at the current rates. We had booked with excellent early booking savings.... Of course the answer was No. It surely would not have costed them a penny. Where is that DCL magic when you need it!!!

The Lucayan, and that area of Port Lucaya, do sound nice enough. But, I too wonder if it is anything that I would actually want to pay for over and above the cruise. And, from what I hear, the area at Freeport where the ship sits at dock all day is just plain awful! Just to get to Port Lucaya also requires the hassle and expense of the taxi ride there, and then hoping to find a taxi that becomes full so that you can get back... So, all of this, on top of the fact that there is very little offered for DCL cruisers to do while at Freeport, has me also wondering why DCL continues to renew their contract?

Give me the day at sea! If I want to get off the ship in the Bahamas, then at least Nassau offers a lot more choices.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by Wishing on a star
So, all of this, on top of the fact that there is very little offered for for DCL cruisers to do while at Freeport, has me also wondering why DCL continues to renew their contract?

From the looks of it, the Dec. 31st of this year is the last stop at Freeport.

 

[dclwdwlover]

YIPPEE !!!!!!

 

[RealMickey]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
I disagree with this....I think NASSAU is the one that is an armpit...Freeport was beautiful at Our Lucaya, I would take the Freeport stop over that Nassau one anyday....I would be very happy to never see Nassau again, it is a real dump.

I agree, I found Freeport much more pleasant. I did the Kayak Nature Tour excursion last year, it was the highlight of the cruise for me. My only complaint was the excursion took all day, and left no time to get out on the island on my own.

 

[kmc33]

I'm thinking that in Freeport, the only thing to do is the Lucayan Resort thing. But how many do this on their own?

I can't speak for other things to do in Freeport, but I can say that we went to the Lucayan Resort on our own. Since we weren't interested in the pool (we could do that on the ship), lunch, or lounging on a chair (hard to do with a non-stop 3-year old!), this made more sense to us. Our son loves playing in the sand, so we wanted to go and do just that for a couple of hours. And this way we could come and go at the times that were convenient to us. We took a cab (really a van) for $5 pp. It dropped us off at the market place and we walked across the street to the beach. The driver would have arranged a pick-up time, but we didn't want to be locked into a time. After we were done, we went back over to the market place. The drivers don't want to leave until the van is full. But it only ended up being about a 5-10 minute wait. The water and the sand were lovely. The Lucayan Resort looked nice, but not as elaborate as the Atlantis in Nassau. If you want to use the facilities, have lunch on the beach, and stay for the duration of the tour, then excursion is probably a good option, too. But for us, it was easy to do on our own and we liked the flexibility.

 

[kellyb2000]

kmc33 - when you went to the beach on your own were you allowed to go and sit at the resort's pool if you wanted to? Or is this the kind of thing that is frowned upon? That's kind of how I felt when we did this last time, that we really weren't supposed to be there. Also, when you walked across the street to the beach, did you have to walk through the resort to get there or did they have like a public access entrance (you know, like they have in Florida) We pretty much just want to go to the beach. I thought that if the pool was accessable (and a bathroom!!) then that would just be a plus.

 

[kmc33]

When we went on to the beach, we accessed it between two of the resorts (it probably was the public access), however we did walk through Our Lucaya on our way back because we wanted to see what it was like inside. The cab driver pointed us in the direction of the access that we used to go onto the beach.

We didn't sit by the pool, but I did take a walk over. There was a poolside bar. I don't think there would be a problem with sitting by the pool. And if you thought it was awkward, you always have the option of buying something to drink and/or eat and then you are patronizing the establishement. We actually spent our time in the sand by the water. We weren't directly on Our Lucaya's beach. But this was because the beach was rather crowded in front of the resort and as we looked back down to the left (while facing the water), we could see that it was empty there. In fact, after we were there by ourselves for a little while, people on the excursion with the arm bands, started dragging beach chairs over to where we were because it there was so much more space. We did use a bathroom in the lobby of the resort next to Our Lucaya and it didn't seem to be a problem. That happened to be more convenient to where we were sitting.

I hope this helps.

 

[kellyb2000]

That helps A LOT!! Thanks!